#14 Cream Swans

Cream Swans are one of the most visually interesting dishes from A Feast of Ice and Fire.   

Look at that perfect Cream Swan gracing the COVER!

Oh yeah?  Challenge. Accepted.

Meringue cookies.  A light, crunchy, sweet way
to add frivolity to your formal desert!

I had an actual pastry bag tucked away from a few years back.  I think I used it for my son's 1st birthday cake.  Anyway, I tried a variety of different tips and prefer the smaller, simply round tip.

I made two necks for each of the half dozen swan molds,  I still managed to break nearly all of them.

The one swan head that did survive looks like a cigar smoking Shar-Pei snake.  And as you can see below, the wings and base turned out brown - a definitively un-swanlike hue.  Faced with the prospect of needing to showcase this desert, I started to wonder what I might do to pull attention away from my brown, disfigured swans...

Alternately, I may attach this swan neck/head to my chest
so I can pretend to be a human host giving "birth" to an Aliens monster.

Munching on dismembered sugary swan limbs, it came to me.  Swans aren't the only winged creature.  No! Why not Cream Brown Eagles, Cream Faeries, Cream Dragonflies! The wings varied in detail from that point on, and I didn't bother with necks anymore...  Voila!

Presenting: Cream The Fly.  Delicate.  Delicious.  Disgusting.  A dessert to be proud of!

Help. Meeee!

#13 Medieval Applecakes

I chose Gala apples for the Applecakes.  There are so many varieties of apples available that I thought I should stick with a type I like.  The recipe called for four apples, but I prepared three and had about an apples worth left over when all was said and done.  I chose walnuts to accompany the apples.

They look just like the picture in the book!

Time to make the doughnuts.

 











I did not have a 2" cookie press cutting the rounds from the dough. I used a Brandy snifter, because those I have. It worked great!

Two, TWO cast iron frying pans,
Ah! Ah! Ah!

 

I only cook with olive oil, even baking. Let's just go ahead and add that to my growing list of quirks. I avoid Canola oil but olive oil is pretty good for you in moderation. Fried in olive oil these still had a light flavor in the crust and a complementary filling.  

These are quite tasty, and really they are not very sweet unless you wish to powder them with sugar. 

I brought a third of these over to my neighbor's house along with a couple hand-me-down books and toys for their one year old daughter. We're friendly but I've never dropped off food before. They were pleasantly confused. *grin*  Mission Accomplished!

Bonus Recipe: Mulled Fruit and Nuts with Greek Honey Yogurt

There is nothing I can say that will be more descriptive than the name of this recipe.

 Delicious. Made all the better with Greek Gods Honey Yogurt.

EDIT: I'm experiencing technical difficulty posting a reply to the comment, so here it is:

Thank you!

I saved this mix in the fridge for about a week after making the mulled wine, using it a little here and there. There is no strong wine flavor after the first day.  ]The nuts soften somewhat but still add nice texture to the mix. The sweet spices blend with the fruit to create a mellow, slightly tart berry flavor. It's a great complement to ice cream, yogurt, whipped cream, and the like.